GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Failure-Lab, a new concept by a team of West Michigan professionals who believe “while success is a statement, failure is a conversation,” aims to focus on stories of failure to encourage intelligent risk-taking.

This new event is a combination of speakers, entertainers, and creative crowd sourcing to collect different "morals to the story" from each presenter's tale. It's called Failure-Lab and will be held at Wealthy Theatre, 1130 Wealthy St. SE, at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 23.

The lineup of six speakers who will have a mere seven minutes to tell their story has been officially released.

The Graffiti Artist: Antonio “Shades” Agee, a native of Detroit who was decorating his hometown streets before graffiti became a household word. A former trash hauler who was homeless at one point, his work now appears on custom canvasses for clients such as Chrysler, Ford, Universal Studios and Quicken Loans.

The Teacher: Katie Caralis, who works at the nonprofit Creative Youth Center, graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in English before trying Teach for America. Unfortunately, she found out quickly that there’s more to leading a classroom than showing up and taking attendance.

The Mother: Ellie Rogers, who works for leading furniture maker Herman Miller. She has an 8-year-old daughter, Campbell, and has found personal struggles to be at times overwhelming.

The Protector: Andy Soper, who works with the Manasseh Project developing programs to address the commercial sexual exploitation of minors. After graduating from Bowling Green State University and without a job, he decided to join the Army – an experience that did not end well.

The Artist: Rick Beerhorst, an artist who lives on an urban farm in downtown Grand Rapids with his wife and six children. A move to New York earlier in his life proved to be an expensive lesson in humility.

The Musician: Brian Vander Ark, lead singer and songwriter for The Verve Pipe, now travels the country bringing his music straight to the people. Before his hit song, “The Freshman,” there were plenty that never made it out of the studio.

Tickets to the event are $10 on Eventbrite. For more information about the concept team, storytellers and entertainers, visit failure-lab.com.